China Considering $16 Billion For New EV Charging Infrastructure

China Considering $16 Billion For New EV Charging Infrastructure

August 28th, 2014 by James Ayre

China’s fledging EV charging infrastructure may soon be getting a huge boost, based on recent rumblings in the industry. Reportedly, the Chinese government is considering providing as much as 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) in funding to help the expansion of the country’s — currently quite limited — charging infrastructure.

According to the rumors, an announcement should be forthcoming relatively soon — with the specifics of the policies involved. Presumably, one of the main motives behind the funding will be to increase the rate of EV adoption in the country. Something which the Chinese government has been working on for a few years now.

Given that the country is actually home to a number of notable EV companies — perhaps the most notable of which is BYD — the move seems timely, especially as a means to help address the monumental air pollution problem that the country is facing.


Image Credit: Flag of China on Yangtze River via Shutterstock.

“Charging infrastructure and EV growth is a chicken-and-egg situation,” stated Ashvin Chotai, managing director of researcher Intelligence Automotive Asia. “It’s got to be a gradual process to scale up both EV sales as well as charging infrastructure.”

Bloomberg provides more on related initiatives:

Among recent government initiatives, China will exempt new energy vehicles — defined as electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles — from a purchase tax starting next month, and has ordered government departments to buy such vehicles for their official fleets.

Supporting a strategic and emerging industry like new-energy vehicles is a “win-win” for industrial development and environmental protection, the central government said last month in the statement announcing the waiver of the purchase tax. Developing new-energy autos is important for spurring innovation, promoting energy savings and reductions in emissions, and will help to drive domestic demand and nurture new avenues of growth, according to the notice.

As per the most recent announcement, China’s central government is currently aiming for EVs to makeup about (at least) 30% of government vehicle purchases by 2016.

Luke Ottaway G+ 2014-09-01 16:46

China could make monumental commitment to solve its EV charging problem

The Chinese government has been very aggressive with policies and incentives encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles, to little effect thus far. A new $16 billion charging station rollout initiative could fix that.

Which needs to come first, the charging infrastructure or the cars? When it comes to electric vehicle adoption, China may be inclined to think the answer is the former. The country that needs EVs the most has tried to encourage their adoption with many different policies and incentives, but a lack of charging infrastructure has hindered the efforts.

Only in China

Bloomberg reports that the charging obstacle could be obliterated in the near future by a brute force tactic: lots and lots of money. Two sources familiar with the matter informed Bloomberg that China is considering providing up to 100 billion yuan, or $16 billion USD, to fund electric vehicle charging stations.

The policy allegedly will be announced soon, though no more details were forthcoming from the two sources.

“Charging infrastructure and EV growth is a chicken-and-egg situation,” said Ashvin Chotai, managing director of researcher Intelligence Automotive Asia. “It’s got to be a gradual process to scale up both EV sales as well as charging infrastructure. EVs are still not very attractive when compared with conventional-powered cars.”

This is especially a problem in China, where a huge segment of the vast population does not have access to a charging station where they live. The absence of widespread public infrastructure virtually eliminates an EV as an option for this demographic.

Fortunately, China has a government that will do almost anything in its power to catalyze electric vehicle adoption to alleviate its air pollution problem – and it has the power to make big decisions and commit lots of money very quickly, unlike some governments we know.

The impact

If this $16 billion indeed comes to fruition and is used even moderately wisely, the impact on EV uptake in China could be huge in the long run as electric vehicles slowly but surely begin to overcome their range and up-front cost limitations.

In the United States, that amount of money could fund over 100,000 Tesla Supercharger stations – which generally come with a minimum of four charging units. It could build anywhere from 2 to 4 million public Level 2 charging stations (at $4,000 to $8,000 apiece, for example), or 160,000 to 640,000 DC fast charging stations (assuming a range of $25,000 to $100,000 each).

The numbers in China wouldn’t be the same, for numerous reasons. But you get the general idea: $16 billion could fund a lot of charging stations to support a large EV driving population.

Tesla Motors was also in the news recently concerning China and charging – the company is working with China Unicom (the second-largest mobile communications carrier in China) to build 400 charging points in 120 cities at China Unicom sites. Tesla will provide the equipment but the charging stations they will not be the Supercharger variety. However, Tesla also announced plans for an additional 20 Superchargers in China to support an increasing population of Model S owners.

- See more at: China could make monumental commitment to solve its EV charging problem - Torque News

Tesla Motors strikes a deal to build 400 charging stations in China

Tesla Motors is backing up its commitment to China with a new deal to set up 400 new charging stations across the country. China has become a vital market for global automakers, and a lack of charging stations has hampered electric car sales for Tesla and other electric carmakers thus far.

By Antony Ingram, GreenCarReports

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014


Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters/File View Caption

The Chinese market has become vital for many global automakers.

For some, it's a haven of high sales numbers to offset struggles in markets like the U.S. and Europe. To others, like Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA], it's a way to promote your product to a vast and growing marketplace.

Tesla has made a big commitment to China and is backing that up with a new deal to set up 400 new charging stations across the country.

According to Bloomberg, Tesla is working with China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile communications carrier, to build 400 charging points across 120 cities at China Unicom outlets.

In addition, the automaker has plans for another 20 Supercharger fast-charge stations for China's growing base of Model S owners.

Charging is proving to be an early sticking point for electric car buyers in China, the country relatively under-supplied to meet potential demand.

There's also confusion over the ideal charging standard in the country. There is no communication standard in use, meaning that even if someone has the right connector--and there's no guarantee of that with no connection standard either--their vehicle may not be compatible.

Some have taken the charging issue into their own hands. In July, a Model S-owning businessman named Zong Yi paid for the installation of 16 charging stations along a 3,750-mile route from Beijing to Guangzhou.

Zong used social media to choose the best locations for each station and queried property owners about installation along the route--close to hotels and free parking sites.

Those 16 stations will be usable by any electric vehicle, and Tesla's non-Supercharger stations will be too--though only Tesla owners will be able to charge for free.

Tesla isn't the first automaker to set up a charging network in the country however. Back in May, BMW announced its own plans to set up a network of chargers with power company State Grid.

The German firm says China "will become the largest market for [electromobility] in a few years" and intends to make the most of potential demand early on.

For Chinese buyers, the input of electric automakers can only improve the prospect of running a plug-in vehicle in the country.

Tesla Motors strikes a deal to build 400 charging stations in China - CSMonitor.com

we still need more international cooperation,even a simple adapter could affect the whole ecosphere.

is this money worth spending? Gasoline cars still outnumber Electric vehicles by a wide margin. $16b can be spent elsewhere--except for sporting events

Jlaw said:

is this money worth spending? Gasoline cars still outnumber Electric vehicles by a wide margin. $16b can be spent elsewhere--except for sporting events

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I don't know about the others，but my next car will definitely be an EV.

So this is good news for me if turned out true.

State Grid to install 120,000 public EV charging piles by 2020
Xinhua, January 16, 2018

China's State Grid plans to establish an electric vehicle (EV) network of 120,000 public charging piles for electric cars by 2020.

The network will cover the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei-Shandong and Yangtze River Delta cities, and major cities in other regions, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) said Monday.

In 2017, the State Grid EV Service Company installed charging piles in 10,000 parking spots in some old residential communities in Beijing and Shanghai, according to Jiang Bing, chairman of the company.

"Starting 2020, electric cars are likely to go beyond their nature as vehicles, and become a basic unit of the energy system," said Jiang.

SGCC aims to make intercity travel smoother for electric vehicles in China, with 3 million charging piles connected to its intelligent-vehicle online platform, according Jiang.

The online platform is connected with 19 pile operators, including China Southern Power Grid, Qingdao Teld New Energy, China Potevio, Star Charge and Shenzhen Clou Electronics, with 170,000 charging piles connected and over 800,000 users, he said.

According to Jiang, such a platform explores the energy storage value of electric cars by enabling them to be charged at the proper time and location, and will promote green development with smarter and safer power grid.

China has the world's largest new energy auto industry. The country sold more than 490,000 new energy cars in the first 11 months of 2017, and the sales are expected to exceed 577,000 units in the whole year, according to statistics by EV-Volumes, an electric vehicle sales database.

Jlaw said:

is this money worth spending? Gasoline cars still outnumber Electric vehicles by a wide margin. $16b can be spent elsewhere--except for sporting events

Click to expand...

16 billion is chap change to give home grown EV an advantage as most EV's (like 98%) sold in china are by Chinese companies.

shadows888 said:

16 billion is chap change to give home grown EV an advantage as most EV's (like 98%) sold in china are by Chinese companies.

Click to expand...

Dude my quote was from 2014. EV has come along way in China

Jlaw said:

Dude my quote was from 2014. EV has come along way in China

Click to expand...

Government of China: 1 - Jlaw: 0